Freiburg or Turin?

Neither city is a swimming destination, but Freiburg makes a cooling dip slightly easier. Warm gravel-pit lakes lie a short bike ride away on the Rhine plain, and Titisee and Schluchsee are an hour into the Black Forest, though their water stays cool.

From Turin, the Ligurian coast at Savona or Varazze is the nearest sea. It is close to two hours away, so a beach day there means a long journey. Locals who stay in town in summer use small lakes such as Avigliana and Viverone instead.

Turin is one of Italy's great eating cities, and food is reason enough to choose it. Agnolotti del plin, vitello tonnato, bollito misto and white truffles from the Langhe in autumn come with Barolo and Barbaresco. The arcaded cafés serve bicerin and gianduiotti, and the aperitivo began here.

Freiburg eats well in a more limited way. Baden cooking with a French touch, Kaiserstuhl Pinot and the sausage stalls at the Münster market are real pleasures. After a few days of taverns, though, the menus start to repeat, which Turin's kitchens never do.

Turin has far more to see. The Museo Egizio alone draws visitors from around the world, and around it stand the Royal Palace, Palazzo Madama, the Shroud cathedral and the UNESCO-listed Savoy residences such as Venaria. Add the Cinema Museum, the car museum and the Castello di Rivoli for contemporary art.

Freiburg's appeal is compact and pictorial. It has the red sandstone Münster with its climbable tower, the medieval gates, the Bächle channels and the Augustinermuseum's medieval sculpture. Much of the centre was rebuilt after the war, and a day or two covers it well.

Turin has the fuller evening, and it starts early with an aperitivo where the food can replace dinner. After that you can choose between wine bars in the Quadrilatero Romano, pavement crowds in San Salvario, a more alternative mix in Vanchiglia and the Murazzi along the Po in summer.

Freiburg's nights are student pubs, wine bars and beer gardens around the Martinstor, with a few clubs and summer evenings by the Dreisam. Both cities are relaxed rather than wild, and both go quiet when the universities break.

Both are excellent bases for the outdoors, but they offer different kinds of landscape. In Freiburg, the forest begins at the edge of town. You can walk up the Schlossberg from the old town, take a cable car up the Schauinsland, and the Feldberg is an hour away for hiking or skiing. The Kaiserstuhl vineyards and the Rhine plain are made for easy cycling.

Turin looks out on far higher mountains: the Gran Paradiso with its ibex, the Susa valley and the Sestriere ski slopes. These are serious Alpine terrain, but they are an hour or more away, and the city itself sits on a flat plain.

Both are first-rate bases, and Turin has slightly more depth close by. The Langhe and Roero, with Alba, Barolo and La Morra, could fill several days on their own. Milan is about an hour away by fast train, and Genoa, Aosta and the Sacra di San Michele add more variety.

Freiburg's strength is its corner of three countries. Basel is under an hour by train, and Colmar, the Alsace wine villages and Strasbourg are within easy reach. Staufen, Breisach and Baden-Baden are closer to home.

Freiburg is much easier with children. It is small, safe and green, with the Bächle to splash in, the free Mundenhof park, the Schauinsland cable car, summer lakes and Europa-Park, Germany's largest theme park, close by. The weak spot is rainy days, when there is little to do indoors.

Turin has the opposite strength. Its arcades and museums work well in bad weather, and older children enjoy the Mole's glass lift, the car museum and the mummies. There is no zoo or theme park in the city, however, and Zoom Torino really needs a car.

Freiburg is simpler to get around. Nearly everything is within a twenty-minute walk, trams are frequent, the bike lanes reach everywhere, and many hotels give guests a card for regional buses and trains into the Black Forest.

Turin's grid of arcades is easy to walk between Porta Nuova, Piazza Castello and the river. Beyond the centre there is a single metro line, and the trams and buses are slower and take some working out.

Turin offers far more. Via Roma has luxury labels under its arcades, Via Garibaldi has the high-street shops, and Via Maria Vittoria is lined with antique dealers. The Balon flea market fills Saturdays, and the chocolate makers and delicatessens give you food worth carrying home.

Freiburg has chain stores on Kaiser-Joseph-Strasse, independent shops in the Gerberau quarter, and cuckoo clocks, schnapps and ham at the market. For serious shopping, locals go to Basel.

Turin is the cheaper city to stay in. Central hotels are fairly priced for most of the year, a generous aperitivo can replace dinner, and Porta Palazzo market and neighbourhood trattorie are good value. The extra costs are truffles, fine dining and museum tickets.

In Freiburg, rooms are what push the budget up. Hotels are scarce for the demand, so some visitors stay in Black Forest villages instead. Once there, the market food, taverns and mostly free sights are kind to your budget, though any trip into Switzerland is not.

Turin has the bigger stage. The Teatro Regio runs a full opera and ballet season, the RAI National Symphony Orchestra has its own hall, concerts also fill Renzo Piano's Lingotto auditorium, and there are jazz clubs in the centre. Its spoken theatre is almost entirely in Italian.

Freiburg has less on, but it has one real distinction: the Freiburger Barockorchester, one of Europe's leading period-instrument ensembles. Theater Freiburg and the summer Zelt-Musik-Festival round out the programme.

Freiburg is the better choice for spa time, since thermal bathing is part of everyday life in southern Baden. There is a mineral bath on the city's edge, warm outdoor pools at Bad Krozingen, Roman ruins next to the modern baths at Badenweiler, and Baden-Baden an hour away by train.

Turin relaxes you in other ways: long café breaks, walks under the arcades and quiet afternoons in Valentino park. For real thermal water you have to go about two hours, to Acqui Terme or the Aosta valley.